Taiwan Offers Compromise for China-Bound Olympic Torch

Taiwan is offering a possible compromise in the long-running dispute over its place on the route of the Olympic torch going to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

Chen Kuo-yi, secretary general of the Taiwan Olympic Committee, said Friday his group had told the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee it would accept a route that moves the torch from one International Olympic Committee member, such as South Korea, through Taiwan to another IOC member, such as the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.

In previous discussions, China has pressed for Taiwan to be treated as a domestic location rather than a foreign entity, and has tried to sandwich it between two Chinese areas…

In its comments on the torch route, Taiwan has emphasized its separateness from the mainland — in keeping with the independence-minded policies of the government of President Chen Shui-bian — and has pushed for a route that reflects that stance.

Chen Kyo-yi said he would accept a route that takes the torch from South Korea to Taiwan to Hong Kong. “Hong Kong is an IOC member,” he said. “We would certainly be willing for the torch to go from here to there.”

Beijing could find that route attractive because of Hong Kong’s status as a Chinese territory. That status could allow it to claim that the torch had moved in a straight domestic line — from Taiwan to Hong Kong to the mainland.